JP 2000-316899A discloses an apparatus and method for culturing adherent cells on a substrate having uneven three-dimensional surfaces wherein a cell suspension is placed in a container containing the substrate, and the cells are cultured on the substrate while rotating the container about plural axes.
In such apparatus, the plural rotational axes of the container intersect with each other to create a quasi-gravity free state in the container so that the cell suspension in the vicinity of the substrate is not fully flowing to uniformly convey cells throughout the substrate surfaces. This results in uneven distribution of cells and adversely affect the quality of cell suspension.
Another problem of the known tissue culture apparatus is associated with coaxial placement of the drive shaft of each drive means for rotating the culture container with each rotational axis of the container. This not only makes the design of the apparatus complicated and costly but makes the container not easily accessible.
In order to eliminate or ameliorate the above problems, JP 2005-45173A and JP 2003-70458 disclose a similar apparatus and method wherein the cell suspension is positively circulated through the rotating culture container from an external source. The apparatus is still complicated in design and coupling and decoupling of a conduit for circulating the cell suspension is not easily performed.